Independence Day....4th of July

We went down to Ester for the 4th of July. I've been going there for years....started back when Nick was a Cub Scout and we were in the parade!

Here we are lined up on the side of the road... Livy, Lukey, Homer, Nick, Elijah and his friend Tyler. Emily couldn't be with us.


Leading the parade was the Red Hackle Band. They were awesome!


I remember having stilts like this as a child except mine were made out of metal since my dad liked to weld.


The mom is the dinosaur/scooter chasing a bone pulled by a remote control driven by her son. It was pretty cute they way he had her going in circles.

Peace is Patriotic

Poppy the Pig has been in the parade the last four years. All around her umbrella were this past years news headlines and political controversies.... gay marriage, black president, Exxon Valdez oil spill settlement, swine flu and of course, the resignation of Sarah Palin.

And what is a parade without dogs?

This was the only actual candidate in the parade. Since we are in Ester there is no doubt he's a Democrat. No area around Fairbanks is more political or more Democrat than Ester!

This group of ladies was celebrate (mocking!) Barbie's 50's birthday.

Apparently, dressing very oddly helps when making a political statement.
A lot of Palin bashing going on.... "Hockey Mom Got the Puck Out!). Like I said, Esteroids are Democrats. At our house we fondly use the term "Estercrats".

A quite talented group of ladies singing and playing. Not quite sure what the banana strapped to the head means, but a lot of the Ester political jokes go right over my head so I guess this shouldn't be any different.

The Electric car....a must have for the Ester-Metro Sexual. Again, I don't get it, but the car was cool.

There were a few cars and motorcycles....

Hmmmm. You got me?!!

The Ester Volunteer Fire Department is the coolest around!

Juggling on a unicycle...could you imagine?!

Usually you get candy tossed to you. Not from Calypso Farms. They toss radishes.

The lone Boy Scout. Apparently the rest were out camping.

This guy is trying get a permit to bring some kind of nuclear reactor to Ester. I don't pay much attention to it all. I'm sure the extremely political Esteroids will get that shut down on my behalf.

We staked out a spot on the grass. The sun was so very hot, no breeze and the air thick with smoke. Yes, my son has on a knit hat. Some new thing with him. He's been wearing it for about a week now. In the words of my teenagers.... whatever.

There is a potluck with hamburgers, hot dogs and a roasted pig. The food is awesome!

Olivia talked her dad into running in the extremely cold water coming from the hose of the fire truck. We couldn't believe how much she liked it.

He was a great sport and played along with her even if he wasn't wearing shorts.

Potato sack races.

Three-legged races.

Wheel-barrow races.

Tug-o-war!

Most of these kids were at my house the two days before swimming.

Just as soon as Homer was dry Olivia wanted to go into the water again!

You can see the heavy smoke against the hills. Sunday's paper said we have 58 active fires in the state totaling about 65,000 acres. Since we have 420 million acres in the state of Alaska this is a drop in the bucket so to speak. Very little of it is actually being fought. The fires sure are destroying the air quality though.